The bars that separate us
by Forgettabledream
Summary: Jasper is a criminal behind bars who meets Bella during visiting hours by chance. Why does Bella know him before, and why doesn't she want Edward to know? AH AU


Chapter 1

The man tapped his hands lightly on the café table, his patience dwindling rapidly as the minutes ticked by. Aro's delivery boy was late, and he didn't appreciate the tardiness, not with such a tight schedule to stick to. He needed to get out of the country by nightfall in order to minimize his chances of being caught. He glanced around furtively, skimming past the woman and her child in the table next to him, over the sidewalk and across the street. A maintenance van was set up with men working next to it. The whole thing wouldn't have aroused any suspicion in itself though from what the man could ascertain they had made no progress at all in the last 20 minutes. It was like watching a very polite person attempt to mask the fact they hated the food placed in front of them by moving it aimlessly around their plate. Equipment would be moved over to the side, covered over by something else, then returned to the original place. The two men doing the moving didn't seem to be all that bothered about actually progressing anywhere…it was almost like they were waiting for something to happen.

_Something to happen. _Instantly alarm bells went off in the mans head. That was exactly what he was doing, waiting for something to happen. For money to be delivered to him from a man who had never been unpunctual before, 'business' of whatever kind had always run like clockwork. Suddenly seemingly innocuous occurrences seemed suspicious. A waiter at the café had to keep returning for plates because he couldn't carry more than one on his arm at a time like all the others. A jogger had been stretching for a good 10 minutes on a park bench. A wave of dread began to settle within the man as he tried to remain composed on the outside. He needed to get out of that area and fast. If those people were who he thought they were, the FBI, he was in deep, deep shit. Calmly, in order to not arouse suspicion, he got up and walked inside, leaving his jacket over the chair as if to give the impression he was returning. The moment he got inside he darted for the kitchen where he prayed there would be a back exit. Grabbing a coat hung up by the door and a baseball cap he slipped outside, ignoring the commotion commencing in the kitchen. Having run for a bit through some quieter streets he slowed to a walk as soon as he heard the unmistakable sirens hunting for his arrest. Nothing could draw attention to him more than running at this point. Slipping into an alleyway he paused enough to try and form a coherent plan.

The steady dripping of raindrops on the concrete around him calmed him down. _Okay I wait 5, find a way to contact Aro then get the hell out of this place. _Those thoughts were expanding into a more detailed plan until a muffled scream snapped him out of his reverie like a sharp slap in the face. Immediately he looked around to the cause of the noise and saw a hooded figure, a young woman, being manhandled by two much bigger men. He didn't need to be a genius to work out that the woman was undoubtedly terrified. Ignoring his head which was screaming for it to let it go, he had bigger problems, the man blindly followed his heart which refused to let such an injustice go.

"Get your fucking hands off her you freaks!"

Even the man himself was surprised at the fierce venom lacing his words, penetrating the usually calm façade he kept up during his criminal antics. Immeditetely the men turned towards the man, who had caught up to them at that point. The girl took this opportunity to kick the one behind her allowing him to loosen his grip slightly on her. She ripped off the hood covering her face and what the man saw made him catch his breathe. Makeup followed the meandering tear tracks down her face, with her long mahogany colored hair erratically strewn around her. Despite all this she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. _Jesus get a grip and sort this mess out before you get caught._

Those thoughts spurred the man into action. Grabbing the hand of the largest man which had been reaching into a jacket pocket he twisted it until it was behind his back, grabbing the weapon which was unsurprisingly a gun out of his jacket himself. Pointing it at the other attacker he snarled.

"You two better fuck off right now or I swear to god I'll kill you" he ignored the girls whimper and remained focused on the task at hand. The two men glanced at each other as if debating what to do. As if on queue sirens were heard, and with the men having no idea that they weren't meant for them, started running in opposite directions immediately.

The girl was just looking at the man who remained, with unmistakable fear etched across her features.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said reaching towards her as she flinched, "Jesus I got _rid_ of those fuckers so I'm hardly about to…" he trailed off as he saw the bruises covering her arms. The rain was falling heavier now and the sirens were getting louder and louder. He knew he should get the hell out of there but he couldn't deal with her looking at him like that, like _he _was the monster.

It was at this moment he heard shouts and knew he had seconds, if that, to get away before the feds got to him but he couldn't bring it upon himself to move.

"Thank you," the girl almost whispered, "for saving me…I…I'm really grateful."

He felt the sincerity of her words but before he could respond he heard more shouts and footsteps coming down the alleyway. Not knowing what possessed him to help this girl over escaping he hissed as harshly as he could "get the fuck away from here" before darting the other way.

Glancing behind him he saw the confusion spread across the girls face as a jogger, a waiter and maintenance men sprinted past her. The man knew he was screwed when he turned from an unfamiliar alleyway to a dead end. He turned around to face the music and dropped the gun stupidly still in his hand with his hands up.

As the cool metal handcuffs were harshly strapped around his wrists the gleeful words that would haunt Jasper Whitlock for the months to come echoed around the alleyway.

"Well, 'Major', I've finally got you, you son of a bitch.'

**R and R please! Hope you enjoyed :)**


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